Thursday, December 17, 2009, 16:00
WHGA Auditorium
L. Testi, ESO Garching
Abstract:
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has been
designed to allow us to study in detail the formation of stars and
panetary systems in the solar neighborhood, the chemistry of the
interstellar medium including the formation of complex and prebiotic
molecules, the cosmic evolution of galaxies in the Universe and to
provide complementary observations at millimeter wavelenghts with
angular resolution and fidelity similar or better than the current
generation of space observatories and adaptive optics fed large
optical/infrared telescopes. The ALMA project is a global partnership
between Europe, North America and East Asia to build a world leading
observatory at millimeter wavelengths in the coming decades; ESO is
leading the European effort in this project. In this talk I will
describe the scientific goals and capabilities of ALMA, the current
status of the construction and the plans for Early Science and Full
Science operations.